ICS Undergraduate Student Policies

Enrollment Policies

ICS strictly follows the campus policy for adding, dropping, and changing grade option or variable units for its courses. However, instructors have the right to set and enforce earlier deadlines.

See the UCI Catalogue for general campus policies.

The deadline to submit a petition for an exception to policy in order to add or delete a course (which includes Prerequisite Exceptions, Course Time Conflicts and Excess Units) is Friday of Week 1 at 5:00 pm.

Always check the course syllabus carefully for course specific add and drop information. If earlier add/drop deadlines are required by the instructor, enrollment will be controlled by the instructor with authorization codes. It is the student’s responsibility to be aware of deadlines and make the modifications to their schedule before those deadlines pass.
The deadline to add or drop courses and to change grade option or variable units is 5:00 pm on Friday of Week 2.
After Friday of Week 2 an Enrollment Exception request must be submitted through Student Access.
The deadline to submit a grade option change for non major courses through enrollment exceptions is 5:00 pm on Friday of Week 10.
The deadline to submit a petition for an exception to policy in order to add or delete a course (which includes Prerequisite Exceptions, Course Time Conflicts and Excess Units) is Friday 5:00 pm of Week 1.

Requests to add or drop are reviewed by the academic advising office of the school offering the course, as well as the school of the student’s major (if different). Requests to change the grade option or variable units require the approval of the academic advising office of the student’s major.

Enrollment exceptions for adds, drops or variable units in ICS are not guaranteed. Exception requests will only be approved for extenuating and documented circumstances outside of the student’s control. It is therefore important to continue attending class meetings and keep up with the assignments until your request is fully processed. Enrollment Exceptions for grade option change requests will only be approved for non major courses or courses not counting towards a major requirement.

Enrollment Exceptions will be denied if submitted for the following reasons:

You did not know the deadlines
You did not understand the Add/Drop process
You did not know the grade requirements for your degree
The course is not required to meet Major, Minor, School, or University requirements
You are doing poorly in the course because of difficulties with the course material
You are doing poorly in the course because of a heavy course/workload
You are doing poorly in the course because of failure to attend

If your drop request is approved, please let your professor know as a courtesy once you have formally dropped the course.

Review the Registrar’s Quarterly Academic Calendar for the 18 unit restriction dates.

Enrolling in 20 units
- Students can enroll in up to 20 units once the 18-unit restriction is lifted. ICS does not approve enrollment of more than 18 units prior to this date without exceptional approval.
Enrolling in 20+ Units
- To request more than 20 units students must meet the following criteria.
  - Must have a 3.5 or higher cumulative GPA
  - Must have completed 1 full time quarter of 16 units or more with a quarterly GPA of 3.5 or higher.
- ICS does not approve more than 26 units in one quarter.
- 20+ unit clearance will not occur until the 18-unit restriction is lifted.
Summer Session 10+ Units
- Summer Session only allows 10 units maximum per session. ICS approves a maximum of 16 units per session if requested through a general undergraduate petition.
- Any unit requests above 16 will require exceptional approval through the general undergraduate petition.

To petition for excess units, submit the General Undergraduate Petition before Friday of Week 1 at 5:00 pm. Exceptions to policy are not guaranteed to be approved.

Note: ICS does not approve excess units requests for students who are currently waitlisting courses or planning to waitlist courses. Graduating seniors who have submitted a graduation application through Student Access may be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Pass/Not Pass Policy

P/NP policy is based on the UCI Catalogue policy
Major requirements may not be taken for P/NP
We will review enrollment exception requests to change the grade option until Friday of Week 10 at 5 PM
Please keep in mind that requests are not guaranteed for approval
Change of major (COM) and 2nd bacc courses must be taken for a letter grade
WR 40, 40A, and 45 cannot be taken for P/NP

Fall 2020

Major requirements may not be taken P/NP
COM and 2nd bacc policies remain the same as Spring 2020 (please see below)
Enrollment exception requests up to week 10 will be considered (not a guarantee of approval)
Academic Notice: Same as below, except major requirements

Spring and Summer 2020

For Spring and Summer 2020, students have the option to change their grade option until end of the quarter even if it is a major course
ICS Major requirements: May be taken P/NP for Spring and Summer 2020 ONLY. GPAs will be calculated based on earned grades.
ICS Change of Major policy: One course may be taken for the P/NP option. GPAs will be calculated based on earned grades.
ICS Academic Notics/DQ policy: May take courses P/NP, however all courses must be earned for the Pass option in order to avoid disqualification.
Per the academic senate policy, any P/NP taken Spring and/or Summer 2020 will not impact the 12 unit P/NP rule. It will not impact the 2 P/NP course policy for minors. Schools will use existing grades for gpa calculation. It will not impact the number of P/NP courses that can be taken in a single quarter.

Taking a course without completing all prerequisites (or currently enrolled in the final prerequisite upon enrollment) is not approved within the School of ICS. All prerequisites must be taken in order to enroll in the course. If you believe you have an extenuating circumstance and want to be reviewed for an exception, you will need to obtain instructor approval and submit the Undergraduate Student Petition by Friday of Week 1 at 5:00 pm.

Priority enrollment in the class is given to students who meet prerequisites. If approved, Prerequisite Exception authorizations will not be entered until open enrollment dates begin as listed in the Quarterly Academic Calendar.

A course may be repeated only when grades of C-, D+, D, D-, F, or NP were received. Unit credit for courses repeated will be given only once.
The earned grades will be permanently recorded on your student transcript
The first 16 units of repeated coursework will replace the old grade when calculating GPA. However, after the initial 16 units of repeats, it will take the average of the old and new grade instead.

Time conflicts between courses may be approved on a case-by-case basis. Note that a lecture to lecture conflict will not be approved under any circumstances. If a course’s lab or discussion time conflicts with another course’s lecture, lab, or discussion, AND there are open spaces in both conflicting sections, follow these steps:

Enroll in one of the conflicting courses (if the conflict involves a lecture, be sure to enroll in the lecture).
Obtain written email approval from both instructors to allow the conflict.
Fill out the General Undergraduate Student Petition by Friday of Week 1 at 5:00pm.
Allow ICS Undergraduate Student Affairs 3-4 business days to process the request. You will be notified by email when it has been reviewed.
If approved, use WebReg to enroll in the conflicting section.

Time Conflict authorizations will not be entered until Open Enrollment dates begin as listed in the Quarterly Academic Calendar.

An undergraduate students must have a GPA of 3.3 or higher in their major to enroll in an ICS graduate course.
An undergraduate student must obtain consent of the instructor to enroll in an ICS graduate course.
To obtain approval to enroll, fill out the General Undergraduate Student Petition by Friday of Week 1, by 5:00 pm.
Students will be authorized to add graduate courses only after the open enrollment period begins.

General Policies

It is recommended that students be familiar with the rules and regulations that govern students at UCI as outlined in the UCI General Catalogue and additional policies including: Non-Discrimination Policy Statements, Americans with Disabilities Act, and Jeanne Clery Act.

Students’ academic status is reviewed on a quarterly basis. Academic standing is determined by GPA and degree progress. To be in good standing, the student must:

Maintain a quarterly and cumulative GPA above 2.0
Make progress towards your degree

Academic Notice

Students are on academic notice if:

Their quarterly or cumulative GPA falls below 2.0
Not making satisfactory progress towards their major/degree
Not making progress towards Entry Level Writing or Lower Division Writing within the UCI Catalogue Policies

The ICS Undergraduate Student Affairs Office will notify students of their academic notice via their UCI email account. The email will include requirements and an academic notice contract which will outline specific conditions that must be met in order to return to good academic standing.

It is the student’s responsibility to:

Read and respond to emails from the ICS Undergraduate Student Affairs Office in a timely manner
Monitor academic progress and maintain good academic standing

Failure to meet the steps outlined in the academic notice email will result in either an administrative hold on the student’s record or academic disqualification.

Students are encouraged to contact their academic counselor soon after receiving the academic notice to ensure their upcoming course load is reasonable and learn about helpful campus resources.

Students on academic notice are subject to academic disqualification. Please note that being subject to disqualification is NOT the same as being formally disqualified.

Academic Disqualification

Academic disqualification will result if the student is on two consecutive quarters of academic notice.

Prior to formal disqualification, students are given the opportunity to appeal.

Submitting an Academic Disqualification Appeal

The appeal should explain any unusual or extenuating circumstances that may have contributed to the student’s academic difficulties (i.e. health issues, family responsibilities, situations outside of student’s control, difficulty understanding course material, time management, etc.). The student should also explain their plans and actions for effectively addressing these circumstances in order to return to good academic standing. Essentially, the appeal is a student’s opportunity to advocate for themselves and to explain why a reconsideration should be granted.

The Associate Dean will carefully review the student’s appeal, transcript and academic file with the academic counselors before making a final decision. The Associate Dean of Undergraduate Student Affairs is the chief academic officer for undergraduate affairs in ICS, and their decisions regarding disqualification appeals are final.

Appeal decisions will be sent to students within 2-3 weeks after the appeal submission deadline.

Note: Many students ask what are the chances of having their appeal granted. A determination cannot be made until the Associate Dean completes the holistic review.

If the appeal is granted, the student will be held to an academic contract that outlines the expectations and timeframe for returning to good academic standing.

If the appeal is denied, the student will be formally disqualified from the major, the School of ICS, and UC Irvine.

Disqualification

If a student is formally disqualified, they may not register for courses or use university services after the effective date stated on the student’s official transcript.

It is recommended that the student see an academic counselor to learn about the readmission process and policy.

Readmission

If a student has been formally disqualified, the student is encouraged to make an appointment to speak with an academic counselor to learn about the readmission policy and to strategize future plans and goals. Please visit the Withdrawal and Readmission section for additional information.

If the student is readmitted to ICS after being academically disqualified, the student must earn a 2.0 term GPA and Cs or higher in each course for the first quarter of return. Failure to meet these terms may result in academic notice.

Students who are planning to withdraw from the University are encouraged to seek advice from an academic counselor to discuss the withdrawal and readmission process.

» Withdrawing from UCI

If the decision to withdraw is made before tuition and fees for the next quarter are paid, a withdrawal form is not necessary, although recommended.

If the decision to withdraw is made after tuition and fees for an academic quarter are paid, a Withdrawal form is required. The form can be found on your Student Access>Applications>Withdrawal. An appointment with an ICS academic counselor is required prior to the form being processed.

Approval must go through ICS UGSAO prior to receiving approval from the Office of the Registrar.

Information on the schedule of refunds can be found on the University Registrar website.

» Readmitting to UCI

Readmission to UCI and the Bren School of ICS is NOT automatic. These policies only apply to students who withdrew as a student under the School of ICS.

Non-ICS students cannot go through the ICS readmission process and should contact their current major’s school about readmission. After readmission with their current school, they would then follow the change of major policies.

There are different policies and processes for readmission based on the student’s reasons for and time of withdrawal.

If a student is seeking to readmit after voluntary withdrawal from UCI while in good standing, readmission will be granted if the student re-enrolls within one year. After more than one year, it will be considered on a case by case basis. The Associate Dean for Student Affairs will make the decision to readmit a student based on additional documentation, including the following:

number of completed units while at UCI
number of units remaining for completion of general education and degree requirements
grades for coursework taken at other institutions or through UCI Division of Continuing Education, Concurrent Enrollment

A readmitted student who has not been enrolled at UCI for three or more consecutive quarters must adhere to the graduation requirements in effect for the quarter in which the student is readmitted, OR those subsequently established.

Students should initiate readmission by emailing us at ucounsel@uci.edu by the readmission deadline posted on the Office of the Registrar’s page.

There are additional readmission requirements if a student withdrew while on academic probation or after academic disqualification:

For Readmission After Academic Disqualification (see below)

For Readmission After Voluntary Withdrawal from UCI While on Academic Notice (see below)

Readmission may be possible for ICS students who have been academically disqualified. Please check with the ICS Undergraduate Student Affairs Office to see if you are eligible for consideration. If readmission is an available option for you, it is highly recommended that a student meet with an academic counselor BEFORE taking any coursework. Students should visit the ICS academic counselor as soon as they have been notified of formal disqualification. Admission into your previous major is not guaranteed. Other majors within ICS may be recommended for readmission based on previous academic performance and normative progress to degree.

A student readmitted after academic disqualification will be held to the conditions of a contract specifying a course plan, unit maximum per quarter, GPA expectations, and mandatory advising sessions. Failure to meet the contract conditions may lead to automatic disqualification.

Students will need to email ucounsel@uci.edu to begin the process of readmission. The UCI readmission application must be accompanied by:

1. A written statement no longer than 2 pages that details the following:

reason(s) for leaving,

reason(s) for returning (including new or renewed interest/focus on Bren School major),

ways that previous or existing obstacles to academic progress have been addressed and will be addressed in the future.

2. An official transcript showing completion of a minimum of one full-time academic year of courses taken through UCI Division of Continuing Education-Concurrent Enrollment, a community college or another comparable institution. Please note that the full time course load for the quarters / semesters must be taken consecutively; breaks in academic study between a quarter or semester are not allowed.

At least six of these courses must meet major requirements (includes math courses).

Must earn Cs or higher in each course.

Minimum of 2.5 cumulative GPA for this year of work.

3. If the student wishes to pursue and be readmitted to a different major outside of ICS, they should call that specific department to learn about their readmission policy/process.

Students will need to email ucounsel@uci.edu to begin the process of readmission. If a student withdraws while on academic notice, any academic contract conditions in place at the time of withdrawal remain in effect upon the student’s return. Please note that this is a conditional readmission and students will need to meet the contract requirements to continue their ICS program at UCI.

Students may be required to provide the following prior to readmission if they lose student status or withdraw without meeting with an academic counselor:

A written statement no longer than 2 pages that details the following: reason(s) for leaving, reason(s) for returning (including new or renewed interest/focus related to their ICS major), and ways that previous or existing obstacles to academic progress have been addressed and/or will be addressed in the future.
An official transcript showing completion of at least 1 full-time quarter or semester of coursework with a GPA satisfying the conditions specified in the student’s academic contract. Two courses must be transferable and must be CS and/or Math. One GE course allowed

If you are required to take courses for a quarter or semester, or a full year, you may do so at a community college or at UCI.

COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Use Assist.org to identify courses that are transferable toward GE requirements or your major requirements.

UCI

To take courses at UCI, enroll via the Division of Continuing Education- Concurrent Enrollment. Concurrent Enrollment is an option for students who cannot find equivalent/transferable courses at their community college and for students who must take upper division courses.

Review the Division of Continuing Education website for enrollment instructions and deadlines.

THINGS TO NOTE:

Enrollment into Concurrent Enrollment courses is not guaranteed. Therefore, have back up choices in case you don’t get into your first-choice courses!

If you have questions, email us at ucounsel@uci.edu

Only CS and Informatics majors may petition to use CS 199 or IN4MATX 199 courses to complete upper div elective requirements.

Computer Science majors can petition CS 199 to count towards 1 project course and/or upper division elective.
Informatics majors with the Organizations and Information Technology (OIT) track are allowed to petition CS 199 courses (IN4MATX 199 courses are not allowed).
Informatics majors with the Health Informatics (HI) track are allowed to petition to use IN4MATX 199 courses or CS 199 courses.
Informatics majors with the Human Computer Interaction (HCI) track are not eligible to use either.

» To receive credit for 199

Students who wish to take a 199 independent study course to apply it toward their degree requirements must adhere to the following:

The 199 course must be at least 4 units.
Student must submit an general student petition with the following information to be reviewed by the Vice Chair of your Department and the Director of Undergraduate Student Affairs:
- Unit value of the 199 independent study
- Instructor name
- A description of the independent study work
- Letter of support from Faculty Advisor

* Please note that petitions are reviewed on a case by case basis and approval may not be granted.
* Only one 199 courses may be used toward degree requirements.

» To enroll in 199

Research which faculty you would like to work with by using the Research Areas page.
Contact the faculty and express your interest in working with them. If the faculty agrees to work with you:
- Clarify what type of work is expected of you
- Ensure that the amount and type of work you do warrants the enrollment of 4 units.
- Ask for the authorization code to enroll in their 199

Students who enter UCI directly from high school as freshmen are expected to complete all degree requirements within 4 years (12 quarters, not including summers). This includes completion of any minors. For double majors, students are expected to complete all degree requirements within 5 years (15 quarters, not including summers), including the completion of any minors.

Students who enter UCI as junior transfers from other institutions are expected to complete all degree requirements within 3 years (9 quarters, not including summers). This includes completion of any minors. For double majors, students are expected to complete all degree requirements within 4 years (12 quarters), including the completion of any minors.

Students who are admitted to UCI for a second baccalaureate degree are expected to complete all degree requirements within 3 years (9 quarters, not including summers).

A maximum of 216 units is permitted for all students in non-Engineering majors after their 12th quarter of study at UCI. For students in Engineering majors, the maximum number may not exceed 236 units after their 12th quarter of study at UCI. Students with Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) credit may exceed the unit maximum by the amount of that credit.

Exceptions to the above policy may be considered by general petition at least two quarters in advance of the expected graduation date.

Electronic Computing Policies

It is illegal to distribute copyrighted materials — such as software, movies, music, pictures — without proper authorization.

If a complaint of copyright infringement is reported involving a computer assigned to a Bren School student, the student’s account will be locked out until Bren School support personnel have a chance to investigate the allegations.

If copyrighted materials are found, they will be removed immediately.

For the initial complaint (first violation), the Bren School Student Affairs Office (SAO) staff and the appropriate Associate Dean (as well as the academic advisor, for grad students) will be notified.

The student will be required to meet in person with appropriate SAO staff to review applicable campus policies, and to sign a statement verifying receipt and notice of such policies.

This signed statement will become part of the student’s file.

For any subsequent complaints, the appropriate Associate Dean, academic advisor (for graduate students) and SAO staff will be notified.

The student will then be referred to the campus Director of Student Judicial Affairs, for academic suspension (upon 2nd violation) or expulsion from the university(upon 3rd violation).

The above statement is based upon:
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA POLICIES APPLYING TO CAMPUS ACTIVITIES, ORGANIZATIONS AND STUDENTS, UCI CAMPUS IMPLEMENTATION
August 1996, APPENDIX K:
Computer Use Policy (Reference to Section 102.05), which includes “Violating the terms of applicable software licensing agreements or copyright laws.”

Please see the most current UCI Copyright Information.

» Computer Specifications

Any Windows or Mac computer released/sold as new within the past four years, or an equivalent Linux system (if you have the technical knowledge to maintain it yourself).
Chromebooks are not compatible with our first-year coursework.
RAM: 16 GB or higher
Storage drive: 500 GB or larger capacity, Solid-State Drive (SSD) based
External drive or cloud-based solution for data back-ups
Weight: Students are expected to bring their laptops to class so please consider weight if this is a factor for you
Screen: When programming and debugging code, more screen space tends to be useful. Minimum resolution of 1080p (1920×1080).
Warranty: Extended hardware warranty is recommended
A backpack suitable to carry your laptop

*If you have a laptop that was purchased within the last 4 years, the system should be adequate for lower division work. Your computer should be running an operating system which will receive ongoing security updates and have sufficient storage space to install course-related programs.

If you need to connect from off-campus to UCI’s network, check out the UCI Libraries’ page and review the VPN information to get set up.

» Computer Use Policies

All ICS students should make themselves familiar with the Bren school’s policies governing computer use. Be sure to review the information provided above (“Ethical Use of Computing”), below (under “Account Allocation and Backups” and “Remote Access”), as well as on the pages maintained by ICS Computing Support. Also review the “Copyright Infringement” information above under “General Policies.”

GENERAL ACCOUNT INFORMATION

Most computing in the Bren School is done either in Linux server clusters or on Windows based systems. These machines have various uses — research, departmental administration, undergraduate instruction, graduate instruction — but all are networked together and share a common file space.

No matter which departmental computer is used, you will have access to the same home directory in either computing environments.

All Bren School majors receive accounts for both Linux and Windows environments. Non-major students receive accounts only if the Bren School course they are enrolled in requires an account on a particular platform.

Bren School majors and other students enrolled in certain Bren School courses have access to a variety of computers in several labs.

You can check out the Lab Hour and Lab Equipment for more information.

Expiration – Expiration dates for accounts are taken from enrollment data provided by the Registrar. When an account is about to expire, an automated email notice is sent. In the normal course of events, if you are a Bren School major your account will be automatically extended, and you will never see such messages. Non-Bren School majors will receive these messages as their accounts are opened and closed each quarter depending on course enrollment. If you continue to enroll in a Bren School course, your account will reactivate automatically.

If the Registrar does not list you, or you fail to enroll on time, you will be sent one of these notices. If you receive a notice in error, contact helpdesk@ics.uci.edu.

Quotas – Your quota is the amount of disk space you are allowed to use. Undergraduate students get a quota of 100 MB. For information on how to check your quota, please see Account Quota.

Please Note – When contacting support, please include your Bren School login and student ID number to facilitate the processing of your request. If you change your name or student ID number, you need to notify helpdesk@ics.uci.edu. Otherwise, your account may be automatically locked or your quota removed because of the way the registrar’s system works.

For general information about what support offers undergraduate students see Student Information.

Backups

Visit the ICS Computing Support Wiki on the types of backups available.

To request something be restored from backups, please contact computing support.

What happens if you violate any of the rules on ethical computer use? It depends on the seriousness of the offense, but could be one or more of the following.

Disciplinary procedures and sanctions will be consistent with those outlined in the UCI Implementation of “Interim Policies and Procedures Applying to Campus Activities, Organizations, and Students, Part A.”

You may have to meet with the chair of the Computing Resources Committee (CRC), the Dean of the Bren School, or the manager of the Bren School Support Group to discuss abuse of computing resources.

Your account may be locked. (Again, we recognize an obligation to respect your rights as well. No student account will be locked without discussion and approval of the Dean of the Bren School, or the chair of the CRC, except in the case of security violations. It would not be ethical for us to lock your account capriciously; for example, we agree not to lock it simply because you send a message to a bboard expressing disagreement with some Department policy or action.)

For minor infractions, some form of departmental services (e.g., cleaning a lab) may be requested in exchange for unlocking the account.

For offenses involving abusing computing resources, cheating on course related work, or preventing others from working on assignments, your grade may be lowered in the class or you may receive a failing grade.

For severe offenses, or repeating minor offenses, you may lose access to all Bren School computing facilities for a period of time. Access to computing can be denied for a limited time (e.g., one week, the remainder of the quarter, an entire quarter) or permanently.

You may be suspended or dismissed from the University.

In serious cases, your name and a description of the violation may be reported to the police. California Penal Code Section 502 makes certain computer abuses a crime, and penalties can range up to a $10,000 fine and up to three years in prison.

Grade	Action
D- to C-	May take ICS 32 for grade replacement. Must earn a C or better before ICS 33
F	Must take ICS 31-32 and earn Cs or better before ICS 33*